Monday, February 7, 2011

To My Sister

The prayers of a family and an entire village ended in vain with the death of soumya who was brutally harassed by a human animal in a railway track near Kerala Kalamandalam. . The 23 year old soumya who was returning to her home after work in a shopping mall in ernakulam had to face the cruel feelings of an underworld criminal. After harassing her he robbed her mobile phone and took seventy rupees from her purse. What gain did the culprit attain from his cruel act? He has shattered the hopes of a family which was slowly gaining the momentum of a decent life. Moreover he proved that safety of women in god”s own country is not even in the hands the so called “god” .

“Even if she has fallen from the train , she wont die”, the sudden response from a senior citizen of the train shows the selfish mentality of an individual. The witness who saw the culprit moving towards the girl didn’t even had the guts to pull the chain of train which could have helped soumya being rescued from brutal harassment. Usually Soumya’s younger brother used to pick her from thrissur railway station . But this time it was soumya’s choice to extend her travel in the train. But her decision was absolutely wrong this time.

Now after the death of soumya a series of discussions and talks are telecasted in the television channels and other medium. This is the season of festivals in the valluvanad region and I feel these discussions as masala mix adding to these festivals. Why are these people celebrating the death of a girl who was brutally killed instead of taking measures for the travel of women in trains. The feeling of helplessness faced by soumya at that time is the point where discussions and talks should be focused. There is no use in political organizations protesting in the state capital to an incident which happened in shornur. A clear picture should be made in the case of security of ladies compartment in the trains. After soumya was hospitalized “sms” were sent through mobile phones to pray for soumya. This can only help the capitalist mobile companies in India. How many of them who read and sent this messages won’t comment a girl next time?

Indian railways are known for its punctuality of trains. The travelers of passenger train are the mostly affected when the passenger train give way for express and superfast trains. The passenger trains should be the first to given way rather than express trains. The passenger train has travelers who are mostly employees which include both men and women who need to reach home by evening. The express trains as they travel in high speed can adjust their time in the long travel. Here also the interests of people who have paid for sleeper class and Ac class are protected. Soumya after her death must have reached the heaven. She must be smiling towards the irresponsible governmental system which could not ensure the security of its common citizen.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Man Proposes, God disposes

The year 2011has started with a tragedy at pullumedu ,a valley near to sabarimala where 102 people were killed in a stampede. The pilgrims who were returning after the darshan of “makarajyothi” a climactic event in the ‘Makaravikakku’ season at the hill-top shrine were the victims of the accident. Who should we blame for this tragedy?. Should it be the state government, or the forest department, or the Kerala police, or the pilgrims who chose the simpler forest way to reach the sannidhanam. ?. An answer to these questions can never bring those 102 dead pilgrims alive.

The postmortem reports reveal that most of the people died with their heart and trachea pierced by their backbones which were crushed in the stampede. The reports show that there were more than 3000 vehicles in pullumedu when the tragedy happened. Top police officials say that there were no lighting facilities where the tragedy occurred and this increased the rate of death. Of the 102 people killed ,six of them were from kerala. It is very clear from this that most of the pilgrims who reach sabarimala were from the neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The state government’s announcement of giving compensation to the families of those who were killed and others who were displaced doesn’t mean that their duty is over. The opposition parties and the other regional parties are now arguing in full swing about the sabarimala master plan which is still even now only in paper. The Justice Chandrasekharan Nair report submitted eleven years before in the wake of the mishaps in 1999 put forward 14 suggestions for the development of Sabarimala. This included developments to be made in Vallakadavu, Sabarimala Sathram, Kozhikanam and at Pullumedu where the tragedy occurred now.

It was an inhuman treatment meted out to the pilgrims when they rushed to the temporary hotels at sabarimala for refuge fearing a stampede... The pilgrims said that most of them were beaten by the owners who wouldn’t allow them to get into these hotels when the crowd lost control because of the stampede. This gives the picture of how cruel and barbaric man can be. The death of those 102 pilgrims can be termed as fate as they lost their life after getting the darshan of lord Ayyapa. The pilgrims who lost their way in the stampede were stuck in the thick forest.

Pilgrims from various states reach sabarimala at a particular season known as “mandala kalam”. The government of Kerala has enough time to make arrangements for the sabarimala season as the temple will be closed rest of the time. The roads leading to sabarimala are also in a pathetic condition. The cold valley of pullumedu is virtually now the “valley of the death”.

The third major tragedy to strike Sabarimala pilgrims in the last fifty years after the cracker shed fire in 1952 and the 1999 stampede at Pampa has also raised questions on the use of undesignated forest paths to reach the Sannidhanam of the Ayyappa temple. The pilgrims from tamil nadu and other states were passing through The Periyar Tiger Reserve to reach the sannidhanam. This area is surrounded with dense forest where wild elephants are common. Danger is imminent and death can occur at any time. A responsible government should act immediately to prevent further accidents and not shy away from their responsibilities by slinging mud on others. and forgetting their duty..

Sunday, January 9, 2011

"Into a traffic Island called Life"


The movie “Traffic which hit the screens this Friday is slowly but very easily getting audience. The screenplay of this film is amazing which makes it lively and fresh to be watched. Bobby-Sanjay duo has once again proved their ability to write the screenplay interestingly. Traffic is a movie which craves the audience to tighten their seat belt to watch the movie. This movie can be added as a golden feather to  Malayalam film industry. The audience were much enthusiastic in theater while movie was rolling off. Each and every major scenes and dialogues in the film were greeted positively. The emotional scenes in the movie evoked a sense of sadness in the heart of audience. The movie has characters from various professions which includes journalism, medicine, film and police. Traffic can be added to the group of recent flicks like ‘cocktail’ and “Pranchiyettan and the saint” which showed the importance of story in a film.
The plot of a film is based on an accident and various happenings occurring before and after makes the entire film. In a single day the different characters undergo multiple changes in their life and its magical portrayal adds suspense to the film. The characters of the film are linked well similar to a road linking different cities. The film has the essence of romance and family relationships. The movie has veteran actor sreenivasan in the lead role with youngsters  Vineeth sreenivasan, Asif Ali, Kunchako boban and sandhya. The climax scenes with a song  sometimes cannot be accepted by the audience.
The director Rajesh Pillai has done an impressive work by crafting the film well.Traffic is his second movie after "Hridayathil Sookshikkan" which was released in 2005.The music and editing do justice to the film.The film is capable in changing the attitude of  a normal viewer who watch a film.